McKee gets 10 years for sexually abusing 8-year-old

Larry McKee waits for his lawyer to return from a trip to the bench in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court on Monday. McKee was sentenced to 10 years for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old.(Photo: Chris Crook/Times Recorder)Buy Photo

ZANESVILLE - The facts of the case before him were truly repugnant, said Muskingum County Common Pleas Judge Kelly Cottrill.

"Mr. McKee, you had an 8-year-old innocent girl in your apartment, and you were sexually abusing her, correct?" Cottrill said.

"Correct," said Larry McKee, a 76-year-old Frazeysburg man who paid a woman to allow him to have sexual contact with her daughter.

McKee previously pleaded guilty to four counts of gross sexual imposition, third-degree felonies. As part of his plea deal, a compelling prostitution charge was dismissed.

He was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.

The victim's mother, Lori Henry, was found guilty last week of child endangering, a second-degree felony, trafficking in persons, a first-degree felony, and compelling prostitution, a third-degree felony. She faces a maximum of 22 years in prison when sentenced next month. It was the first human trafficking case to go to trial in Muskingum County.

McKee declined to make any comments before his sentencing. His defense attorney, Keith Edwards of Columbus, argued that McKee had no prior criminal history and had followed the law for most of his life.

"Mr. McKee lived a lawful life for 75 years," Edwards said.

He also argued that because of McKee's age and health, any prison sentence would effectively be a life sentence.

Cottrill asked McKee if he realized that his victim would be affected by his actions for the rest of her life. McKee said he did.

"You did that for your own sexual gratification, didn't you?" Cottrill said.

"Yes," McKee said.

McKee received five years for each count of GSI, two of which will run consecutively to the other two counts.

Edwards argued that because his total prison sentence was more time than a third-degree felony carried, McKee had the right to appeal and asked that an appellate attorney be assigned to his case.

Cottrill granted the request.

McKee testified in Henry's trial last week, admitting that he touched the victim's genitals both over and under her clothes and directed her to touch his genitals over and under his clothes. But he said the money he gave to Henry was a loan.

Assistant Muskingum County Prosecutor Ron Welch argued in Henry's trial that she knew that McKee was abusing her daughter and that the money was in exchange for letting her daughter spend that night at his home.